WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.540 Now, the outline we've been working on, I'm going 00:00:01.540 --> 00:00:03.279 to put up on the screen for you. You see the 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:06.400 title of our sermon today, Wisdom to Remember. 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:08.800 That's the outline we've been working with. You 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:10.300 can take a snapshot if you want for your own 00:00:10.300 --> 00:00:12.480 study, but I want you to do something with me 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:16.160 before we dig in. I want you to close your eyes 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:19.420 for a moment. Humor me, please. Don't fall asleep. 00:00:20.739 --> 00:00:22.739 Close your eyes. I promise it won't take long. 00:00:23.420 --> 00:00:27.179 As your eyes are closed, picture yourself 20 00:00:27.179 --> 00:00:33.340 years from now. 20 years from now, focus on your 00:00:33.340 --> 00:00:38.280 hands. Are they steady? Do they tremble when 00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:42.039 you try to hold a cup of coffee? Picture your 00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:47.119 eyes. Can you still read the fine print? Has 00:00:47.119 --> 00:00:49.299 the world gone soft and blurry at the edges? 00:00:51.140 --> 00:00:54.280 Picture your strength. The strength you maybe 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:56.520 take for granted right now to climb stairs, to 00:00:56.520 --> 00:00:59.240 carry your own groceries, to get up out of a 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:04.239 chair without groaning. Is it still there? Or 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:06.239 has your strength quietly slipped away while 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:10.980 you weren't looking? Now, 20 years isn't far 00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:15.299 enough in the future. Picture 30 or 40. Maybe 00:01:15.299 --> 00:01:20.019 you need only picture 10. You can open your eyes. 00:01:21.870 --> 00:01:24.569 The question I actually want to ask you, the 00:01:24.569 --> 00:01:27.170 one underneath all of that imagining of the future, 00:01:27.290 --> 00:01:31.569 is this. What would you want to have already 00:01:31.569 --> 00:01:38.150 settled with God before you get there? Don't 00:01:38.150 --> 00:01:40.790 let go of that question. Because that question, 00:01:41.150 --> 00:01:43.430 that's what Ecclesiastes is going to force us 00:01:43.430 --> 00:01:46.709 to ask in this final chapter. Solomon, he's the 00:01:46.709 --> 00:01:49.629 man who had more wisdom. More wealth, more pleasure, 00:01:49.750 --> 00:01:52.109 more accomplishment than perhaps any other human 00:01:52.109 --> 00:01:55.909 being in history. And he spent 11 chapters so 00:01:55.909 --> 00:02:00.670 far testing every avenue of life. Wisdom, pleasure, 00:02:01.030 --> 00:02:05.230 work, legacy, wealth. And over and over again, 00:02:05.290 --> 00:02:08.930 he comes back to that haunting refrain. In Hebrew, 00:02:09.030 --> 00:02:12.729 habel. In our Bibles, often rendered vanity. 00:02:14.490 --> 00:02:17.449 That Hebrew word paints a picture of vapor, a 00:02:17.449 --> 00:02:19.729 fleeting mist that you can't hold it in your 00:02:19.729 --> 00:02:23.490 hand. And then in chapter 12 here, with the wisdom 00:02:23.490 --> 00:02:26.310 of a man who has seen it all and lost a lot of 00:02:26.310 --> 00:02:29.789 it, he turns to the young and honestly, really 00:02:29.789 --> 00:02:32.030 to all of us, because here's the thing, no matter 00:02:32.030 --> 00:02:34.409 your age, you're younger today than you will 00:02:34.409 --> 00:02:41.379 be tomorrow. And he says this, don't wait. Don't 00:02:41.379 --> 00:02:44.139 wait until your body has already betrayed you 00:02:44.139 --> 00:02:49.500 to figure out what matters. Settle it now. So 00:02:49.500 --> 00:02:51.139 before we go any further, I want us to hear the 00:02:51.139 --> 00:02:52.979 whole of God's word together, not in pieces, 00:02:53.020 --> 00:02:56.159 but one continuous appeal. So would you stand 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:58.960 with me as I read from Ecclesiastes chapter 12? 00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:05.439 And forgive me if I hold my Bible too close and 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:10.740 muffle my microphone on account of my eyes. Beginning 00:03:10.740 --> 00:03:14.259 in verse 1, remember also your creator in the 00:03:14.259 --> 00:03:17.039 days of your youth, before the evil days happen 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:19.000 and the years draw near in which you'll say, 00:03:19.139 --> 00:03:23.680 I have no delight in them. Before the sun and 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:25.979 the light, the moon and the stars are darkened 00:03:25.979 --> 00:03:29.680 and clouds return after the rain. And the day 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:32.599 that the watchmen of the house tremble and valiant 00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:36.259 men bend down and grinding ones stand idle because 00:03:36.259 --> 00:03:38.759 they're few and those who look through windows 00:03:38.759 --> 00:03:42.159 grow dark. The doors on the street are shut as 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:44.699 the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one 00:03:44.699 --> 00:03:47.139 will arise at the sound of the bird, and all 00:03:47.139 --> 00:03:51.599 the daughters of song will sing softly. Furthermore, 00:03:51.860 --> 00:03:54.580 men are afraid of a high place and of terrors 00:03:54.580 --> 00:03:58.340 on the road. The almond tree blooms, the grasshopper 00:03:58.340 --> 00:04:01.300 drags itself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:06.180 For man goes to his eternal home, but the mourners 00:04:06.180 --> 00:04:10.590 go about in the street. Remember him. Before 00:04:10.590 --> 00:04:13.330 the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl 00:04:13.330 --> 00:04:15.930 is crushed, the pitcher by the spring is broken 00:04:15.930 --> 00:04:19.170 and the wheel at the cistern is crushed, then 00:04:19.170 --> 00:04:22.310 the dust will return to the earth as it was and 00:04:22.310 --> 00:04:26.430 the spirit will return to God who gave it. Vanity 00:04:26.430 --> 00:04:31.170 of vanities, says the preacher. All is vanity. 00:04:32.029 --> 00:04:40.370 You may be seated. As Grant said earlier, we 00:04:40.370 --> 00:04:42.029 want to thank you for standing to honor God's 00:04:42.029 --> 00:04:44.529 word because we want that to be the posture of 00:04:44.529 --> 00:04:47.189 our heart. When we stand, we recognize God's 00:04:47.189 --> 00:04:49.970 word carries weight. We want to listen. We want 00:04:49.970 --> 00:04:54.329 to learn. Now, in what you just heard, I want 00:04:54.329 --> 00:04:56.970 you to notice something. In the Hebrew, that 00:04:56.970 --> 00:04:59.730 entire passage that I read, all of those eight 00:04:59.730 --> 00:05:03.269 verses is actually one sentence grammatically. 00:05:04.110 --> 00:05:05.970 There's a single command there. It's the very 00:05:05.970 --> 00:05:08.839 first word in most of your Bibles. Remember, 00:05:08.899 --> 00:05:14.180 zakar. It's given in verse 1 and everything that 00:05:14.180 --> 00:05:16.560 follows all the way to verse 8. Every image of 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:20.139 darkening skies, trembling hands, dimming eyes, 00:05:20.279 --> 00:05:23.220 snapping cords. All of that is a before clause 00:05:23.220 --> 00:05:29.019 hanging off of that one imperative. Solomon isn't 00:05:29.019 --> 00:05:32.379 giving us a slideshow of separate pictures to 00:05:32.379 --> 00:05:34.920 admire one at a time. He's building an unbroken 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:39.220 wave of urgency. All of it is crashing towards 00:05:39.220 --> 00:05:43.680 one appeal. Remember your creator before all 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:46.860 of this comes to pass. So we're going to walk 00:05:46.860 --> 00:05:48.860 through this passage together, verse by verse, 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:52.240 image by image, because Solomon is about to paint 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:55.740 one of the most vivid, unflinching pictures of 00:05:55.740 --> 00:05:58.699 human aging and death found anywhere in scripture. 00:05:59.259 --> 00:06:01.259 By the end of today, I believe we'll discover 00:06:01.259 --> 00:06:03.500 that this passage, for all of its bleakness, 00:06:03.699 --> 00:06:07.410 actually is not meant to depress us. It's meant 00:06:07.410 --> 00:06:10.990 to wake us up. So let's begin reading verses 00:06:10.990 --> 00:06:12.930 one and two. Remember your creator, the days 00:06:12.930 --> 00:06:15.310 of your youth, before the evil days happen and 00:06:15.310 --> 00:06:17.449 the years drawn near in which you say, I have 00:06:17.449 --> 00:06:22.170 no delight in them. Before the sun and the light, 00:06:22.189 --> 00:06:23.930 the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds 00:06:23.930 --> 00:06:27.329 return after the rain. Notice the first word 00:06:27.329 --> 00:06:31.670 there in terms of remembrance, creator, not God. 00:06:32.910 --> 00:06:35.790 Not just some vague higher power for you to believe 00:06:35.790 --> 00:06:38.029 in. Solomon uses a word that reaches all the 00:06:38.029 --> 00:06:41.029 way back to Genesis, to our call to worship actually, 00:06:41.209 --> 00:06:45.529 right? The one who made you, the one who formed 00:06:45.529 --> 00:06:49.649 you, the one who breathed life into you in the 00:06:49.649 --> 00:06:52.810 first place. And that matters because Ecclesiastes, 00:06:52.990 --> 00:06:55.689 really Solomon has spent 11 chapters exploring 00:06:55.689 --> 00:06:59.009 and exposing the emptiness of everything that 00:06:59.009 --> 00:07:02.360 we try to put in place of God. Solomon tried 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:07.439 wisdom, habel, vanity. He tried pleasure, habel, 00:07:07.540 --> 00:07:12.199 vanity. He tried work and legacy and wealth and 00:07:12.199 --> 00:07:15.660 achievement and knowledge, habel, habel, habel, 00:07:15.660 --> 00:07:19.560 all of it, vanity. Now he's standing at the end 00:07:19.560 --> 00:07:22.220 of that long road and he points us back to the 00:07:22.220 --> 00:07:26.100 beginning, the creator, our creator. The one 00:07:26.100 --> 00:07:29.709 who made you is the only foundation. strong enough 00:07:29.709 --> 00:07:32.610 to build a life on, especially a life that is 00:07:32.610 --> 00:07:34.870 going to weaken and a life that will eventually 00:07:34.870 --> 00:07:38.930 end. Before we go further, I want you to notice 00:07:38.930 --> 00:07:41.629 something else about how this passage is built. 00:07:41.829 --> 00:07:43.949 It's going to help you feel the weight of everything 00:07:43.949 --> 00:07:46.970 still to come. So in the Hebrew, I mentioned 00:07:46.970 --> 00:07:49.490 it. There's one imperative verb, one command. 00:07:50.629 --> 00:07:54.439 Remember, right there in verse one. Everything 00:07:54.439 --> 00:07:57.779 that follows all the way to verse 7, it's subordinate. 00:07:57.779 --> 00:08:01.560 It falls underneath that command. There's a bunch 00:08:01.560 --> 00:08:05.079 of before clauses. Remember before the evil days 00:08:05.079 --> 00:08:07.560 come. Remember before the sun and the light are 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:09.759 darkened. Remember before the keepers of the 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:13.120 house tremble. Remember before the silver cord 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:18.220 is broken. Structurally, this whole passage deals 00:08:18.220 --> 00:08:20.500 with decline and fear and death and dust and 00:08:20.500 --> 00:08:22.930 spirit returning to God. It's one long sentence 00:08:22.930 --> 00:08:25.569 hanging off of that command. So again, it's not 00:08:25.569 --> 00:08:29.389 a bunch of snapshots. It's one continuous, urgent 00:08:29.389 --> 00:08:31.269 appeal. Everything we're going to walk through 00:08:31.269 --> 00:08:34.909 is going to unpack what it means to obey that 00:08:34.909 --> 00:08:38.570 single word, remember. Keep that in mind as we 00:08:38.570 --> 00:08:40.570 go. It's going to help you feel this passage 00:08:40.570 --> 00:08:44.350 as one breath rather than that slideshow. So 00:08:44.350 --> 00:08:46.990 look at the timing of the remembering in the 00:08:46.990 --> 00:08:53.159 days of your youth. Now, why youth? Why not wait 00:08:53.159 --> 00:08:58.740 until you're older, wiser, more settled? Because 00:08:58.740 --> 00:09:00.500 Solomon knows something about the human heart 00:09:00.500 --> 00:09:03.919 that we all know too. If we're honest, it's far 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:06.720 easier to remember your creator when your hands 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:11.659 are steady, when your eyes are sharp. It's far 00:09:11.659 --> 00:09:15.419 easier then than when your body has begun to 00:09:15.419 --> 00:09:19.320 fail you. It's far easier to cultivate a habit 00:09:19.320 --> 00:09:21.480 of trusting God like we heard from the testimony 00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:24.360 of Polycarp during decades, during the days of 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:27.379 strength, rather than trying to manufacture that 00:09:27.379 --> 00:09:31.080 trust for the first time during the final days 00:09:31.080 --> 00:09:34.259 of weakness. Think of it like building a house. 00:09:34.460 --> 00:09:38.759 You don't wait for the storm to begin pouring 00:09:38.759 --> 00:09:41.080 concrete for the foundation. That's foolish. 00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:44.940 You pour that foundation on a calm, sunny day 00:09:44.940 --> 00:09:48.240 precisely so that it will hold when the storm 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:52.700 eventually comes. Solomon is saying this, pour 00:09:52.700 --> 00:09:57.659 your foundation now. Now. Remember your creator 00:09:57.659 --> 00:10:00.299 now while you have the strength and clarity to 00:10:00.299 --> 00:10:03.279 do it well so that when those evil days come, 00:10:03.340 --> 00:10:07.200 and notice he doesn't say if, he says before. 00:10:08.179 --> 00:10:12.809 So when the evil days come, you will be anchored. 00:10:13.590 --> 00:10:16.929 Then he describes what those evil days will feel 00:10:16.929 --> 00:10:19.470 like. The years draw near when you will say, 00:10:19.509 --> 00:10:24.289 I have no delight in them. Now there's something 00:10:24.289 --> 00:10:27.990 almost tender and honest really about that phrase. 00:10:28.669 --> 00:10:32.389 Solomon is not scolding old age. He's not saying 00:10:32.389 --> 00:10:35.350 that growing old is shameful or that suffering 00:10:35.350 --> 00:10:38.470 is a moral failure. He's simply telling the truth. 00:10:38.570 --> 00:10:41.350 There's a season that comes in life when pleasure 00:10:41.350 --> 00:10:44.870 becomes harder to access. When the good things 00:10:44.870 --> 00:10:46.789 that used to delight you, you know, good company, 00:10:46.830 --> 00:10:49.409 good food, good work, they start to lose their 00:10:49.409 --> 00:10:52.909 savor. And anyone who's walked with an aging 00:10:52.909 --> 00:10:55.590 parent or felt their own body start to slow down 00:10:55.590 --> 00:11:00.990 knows exactly what he means. And then verse 2 00:11:00.990 --> 00:11:03.889 gives us the first of several extended metaphors 00:11:03.889 --> 00:11:07.149 that Solomon's going to use before the sun and 00:11:07.149 --> 00:11:09.620 the light, the moon and the stars. are darkened 00:11:09.620 --> 00:11:13.039 before the clouds return after the rain. Many 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:15.240 scholars, and I think rightly so, read this as 00:11:15.240 --> 00:11:18.559 the dimming of eyesight and the general darkening 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:21.659 of life's vitality when you get older. Now think 00:11:21.659 --> 00:11:23.980 about it. The sun, the moon, the stars, these 00:11:23.980 --> 00:11:25.820 are the great lights that God has set in the 00:11:25.820 --> 00:11:29.679 sky for day four of creation to mark time, to 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:33.860 bring order, to illuminate the world. When Solomon 00:11:33.860 --> 00:11:36.039 says they grow dark, he's describing a world 00:11:36.039 --> 00:11:39.600 that used to be bright and clear. becoming increasingly 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:44.960 shadowed, blurred, and dim. Then that final image, 00:11:45.159 --> 00:11:49.840 the clouds return after the rain. Just when you 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:53.019 think the storm has passed, the sky might clear 00:11:53.019 --> 00:11:57.720 up, but then clouds roll back in. That's what 00:11:57.720 --> 00:12:00.679 aging can feel like. Recovery becomes harder 00:12:00.679 --> 00:12:04.919 and harder. The gray weather that keeps returning 00:12:04.919 --> 00:12:08.179 comes back after the last round. before it's 00:12:08.179 --> 00:12:10.799 even cleared. And it's really what Solomon's 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:13.419 encouraging us with. He wants you to hear it, 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:15.440 not as a threat, but as an invitation. These 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:18.940 hard days are going to come, so remember your 00:12:18.940 --> 00:12:23.899 creator. Not someday, not when you get around 00:12:23.899 --> 00:12:27.620 to it, but now. While the body is still bright, 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:30.059 and the sun is still bright in your sky, your 00:12:30.059 --> 00:12:32.340 body's still active, the days you still can delight 00:12:32.340 --> 00:12:37.559 in, now, Zakar, remember. before the clouds roll 00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:42.679 back in. Now Solomon does something wild here 00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:45.580 for these next couple of verses. He gets very 00:12:45.580 --> 00:12:48.059 specific. You might have been confused reading 00:12:48.059 --> 00:12:50.919 it because we don't speak like this today, but 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:54.220 verses 3 and 4 are actually an anatomical poem. 00:12:55.500 --> 00:12:58.879 Solomon is describing an aging human body, and 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.480 he uses the picture of an old household falling 00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:04.279 into disrepair. And that imagery maps almost 00:13:04.279 --> 00:13:09.019 perfectly onto the human frame itself. I'll read 00:13:09.019 --> 00:13:10.600 it again. And the day that the watchmen of the 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:13.399 house tremble and valiant men bend down and the 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:15.659 grinding ones stand idle because they're few 00:13:15.659 --> 00:13:18.639 and those who look through windows grow dark 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:20.620 and the doors in the street are shut as the sound 00:13:20.620 --> 00:13:23.059 of the grinding mill is low and one will arise 00:13:23.059 --> 00:13:25.460 at the sound of the bird and all the daughters 00:13:25.460 --> 00:13:29.899 of song will sing softly. So let's slow down. 00:13:29.980 --> 00:13:34.159 Let's take each of those. Image by image, verse 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:36.919 by verse, the watchmen of the house tremble. 00:13:37.740 --> 00:13:40.639 Picture an old house with guards or watchmen 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:43.320 that are stationed to protect it. On the human 00:13:43.320 --> 00:13:45.580 body, most interpreters will see this as the 00:13:45.580 --> 00:13:48.580 hands or the arms, the parts of your body that 00:13:48.580 --> 00:13:52.600 once held steady. They gripped tools. They carried 00:13:52.600 --> 00:13:54.659 loads. They steadied us when we stumbled. And 00:13:54.659 --> 00:13:57.779 now what do they do? They tremble and they shake. 00:13:59.789 --> 00:14:02.129 If you've ever watched an elderly loved one try 00:14:02.129 --> 00:14:06.330 to lift a spoon to their mouth, try to sign their 00:14:06.330 --> 00:14:09.970 name with a pen that won't cooperate, you've 00:14:09.970 --> 00:14:15.169 seen this verse fulfilled in real time. The valiant 00:14:15.169 --> 00:14:19.570 men bend down. Those strong legs that once were 00:14:19.570 --> 00:14:22.610 able to carry weight, they once were able to 00:14:22.610 --> 00:14:27.809 stand tall for hours, now they bend and stoop. 00:14:28.679 --> 00:14:31.299 The posture that used to be upright and confident 00:14:31.299 --> 00:14:37.779 now curves under gravity and time. The grinding 00:14:37.779 --> 00:14:40.179 ones stand idle because they're few. This one 00:14:40.179 --> 00:14:43.659 is almost humorous in its bluntness. The teeth. 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:48.679 The grinders that chew our food become few in 00:14:48.679 --> 00:14:51.860 number. Anyone who has watched a grandparent 00:14:51.860 --> 00:14:55.559 struggle with dentures or simply lost teeth over 00:14:55.559 --> 00:14:59.029 the decades knows exactly. what Solomon is talking 00:14:59.029 --> 00:15:03.870 about. Those who look through windows grow dark. 00:15:04.929 --> 00:15:07.169 You know, the eyes, the windows of the house, 00:15:07.210 --> 00:15:10.690 the windows of the soul, we sometimes call them, 00:15:10.710 --> 00:15:15.230 they grow cloudy, cataract covered, and dim. 00:15:16.789 --> 00:15:19.710 What used to be sharp and clear now strains to 00:15:19.710 --> 00:15:24.490 make out even familiar faces. The doors on the 00:15:24.490 --> 00:15:26.289 street are shut as the sound of the grinding 00:15:26.289 --> 00:15:30.779 mill is low. Think about this. The access to 00:15:30.779 --> 00:15:34.100 the outside world is diminished because your 00:15:34.100 --> 00:15:38.759 activity is diminished. The mill isn't active, 00:15:38.820 --> 00:15:41.179 so people walk by. They don't pay attention to 00:15:41.179 --> 00:15:45.259 it. They stop checking in. They stop remembering. 00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:50.259 The ability to engage with others, it grows quieter 00:15:50.259 --> 00:15:54.799 and harder over the years. Older folks might 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:57.740 recognize this next one. One will arise at the 00:15:57.740 --> 00:16:00.759 sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:05.679 will sing softly. Those who age often wake at 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:09.600 the slightest sound. The first chirp of a bird 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:11.360 at dawn interrupts the sleep that used to be 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:16.240 deep and undisturbed. Even the joy of music, 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:18.860 the daughters of song, it grows faint, either 00:16:18.860 --> 00:16:21.759 because the hearing has dimmed or because the 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:24.360 capacity to sing along, to fully engage in the 00:16:24.360 --> 00:16:30.399 joy of it. Friends, I don't think Solomon is 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:34.059 trying to depress us with this list. I think 00:16:34.059 --> 00:16:37.059 he's trying to be honest with us. And here's 00:16:37.059 --> 00:16:40.120 the thing, in a culture like his and ours, we 00:16:40.120 --> 00:16:42.919 desperately want to pretend that this isn't coming. 00:16:43.980 --> 00:16:47.240 We live in a world of anti -aging creams and 00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:50.259 youth -obsessed marketing and a medical system 00:16:50.259 --> 00:16:53.179 that can do extraordinary things. to extend life, 00:16:53.299 --> 00:16:56.460 and all of that has a place, but none of it changes 00:16:56.460 --> 00:16:59.679 the fundamental trajectory that Solomon is describing 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:04.000 here. The keepers of the house are going to tremble. 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:09.960 The mighty men will bow. The grinders will cease. 00:17:10.500 --> 00:17:16.480 The windows will grow dim. I want us to be honest 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:19.299 about how much... more intrinsic our denial is 00:17:19.299 --> 00:17:22.640 than even maybe in Solomon's day. He had no cosmetic 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:26.880 surgery. He had no assisted living facilities 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:31.039 tucked quietly off the main road. No algorithms 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:33.859 feeding him a constant stream of anti -aging 00:17:33.859 --> 00:17:37.119 content to reassure him that decline was only 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:42.960 optional. And yet here's the thing. Even in his 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:47.769 far more exposed, far less medicated world, he 00:17:47.769 --> 00:17:53.190 still had to write this unflinching poem because 00:17:53.190 --> 00:17:57.529 the human heart's capacity for denial is ancient, 00:17:57.690 --> 00:18:03.109 not modern. We've simply built entire industries 00:18:03.109 --> 00:18:06.650 to do our denying for us. Funeral cosmetology 00:18:06.650 --> 00:18:09.730 that makes a corpse look as if it might sit up 00:18:09.730 --> 00:18:14.220 and speak. Retirement marketing that sells us 00:18:14.220 --> 00:18:17.400 decades of golf carts and beach sunsets instead 00:18:17.400 --> 00:18:19.799 of ever mentioning the cord that will eventually 00:18:19.799 --> 00:18:27.180 snap. Euphemisms like past let us avoid saying 00:18:27.180 --> 00:18:33.319 died. Solomon forces the picture on us in these 00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:36.920 verses. We've engineered whole systems to keep 00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:39.339 the picture at a comfortable distance. So let 00:18:39.339 --> 00:18:44.480 me ask you plainly. Where have you outsourced 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:49.839 the work of facing your own mortality to an institution, 00:18:50.119 --> 00:18:54.539 a euphemism, or a product, rather than addressing 00:18:54.539 --> 00:18:57.539 the reality that Solomon is commanding here, 00:18:57.700 --> 00:19:03.279 remembering your creator with open eyes? It's 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:06.200 not a passage about being pessimistic. It's a 00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:09.500 passage about being honest, honest enough to 00:19:09.500 --> 00:19:13.170 plan. Honest enough to prepare. Honest enough 00:19:13.170 --> 00:19:17.230 to remember your creator now, today. Precisely 00:19:17.230 --> 00:19:21.630 because you know where you're headed. That was 00:19:21.630 --> 00:19:24.309 a strange kind of freedom in that honesty. When 00:19:24.309 --> 00:19:26.730 you stop pretending that decline isn't coming, 00:19:26.869 --> 00:19:29.869 you stop wasting your strength defending against 00:19:29.869 --> 00:19:33.109 the inevitable. And you start investing in what 00:19:33.109 --> 00:19:37.569 actually lasts. Solomon is going to continue 00:19:37.569 --> 00:19:42.670 here into verse 5. It says, men are afraid of 00:19:42.670 --> 00:19:47.009 a high place and of terrors on the road. Think 00:19:47.009 --> 00:19:49.289 about that elderly person. They used to climb 00:19:49.289 --> 00:19:52.609 ladders without a second thought. They used to 00:19:52.609 --> 00:19:56.390 walk city streets confidently at any hour. And 00:19:56.390 --> 00:19:59.950 now they hesitate at a single step. Afraid of 00:19:59.950 --> 00:20:02.910 falling. Afraid of what might happen on even 00:20:02.910 --> 00:20:07.210 a short walk to the mailbox. The fear here isn't 00:20:07.210 --> 00:20:09.849 cowardice. It's the appropriate caution of a 00:20:09.849 --> 00:20:13.930 body that knows it's fragile, that has felt gravity 00:20:13.930 --> 00:20:18.390 turn from friend to enemy. The next one's less 00:20:18.390 --> 00:20:23.130 common for us. The almond tree blooms. Now, this 00:20:23.130 --> 00:20:25.109 is a beautiful and slightly mysterious image. 00:20:25.529 --> 00:20:29.210 Now, the almond tree in that region blooms with 00:20:29.210 --> 00:20:32.089 white flowers that from a distance look almost 00:20:32.089 --> 00:20:36.059 like snow covering branches. So many see this 00:20:36.059 --> 00:20:39.680 as picturing the white hair, the crown of years, 00:20:39.880 --> 00:20:43.960 as Proverbs calls it. The blossoming across the 00:20:43.960 --> 00:20:46.460 head, the way the flowers cover the almond branches 00:20:46.460 --> 00:20:50.640 in early spring. But there's another fascinating 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:54.000 wordplay lurking underneath this image, and I 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:56.920 don't want you to miss it. I'll put it on the 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:00.140 screen for you to see some Hebrew here. There's 00:21:00.140 --> 00:21:03.920 a Hebrew word for almond, shakade. Don't correct 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:08.000 me on the pronunciation. It's very similar to 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:12.980 another Hebrew word, shakad. Now, the first one, 00:21:13.079 --> 00:21:19.079 ed, means almond. The second one there, ad, is 00:21:19.079 --> 00:21:23.480 to watch or to waken. Now, the Lord God uses 00:21:23.480 --> 00:21:27.079 that wordplay deliberately in Jeremiah chapter 00:21:27.079 --> 00:21:30.460 1, verses 11 and 12, for this exact connection. 00:21:31.210 --> 00:21:32.869 Here's what happens. I'm just going to explain 00:21:32.869 --> 00:21:35.950 it to you. Yahweh shows Jeremiah a vision, and 00:21:35.950 --> 00:21:39.549 he asks Jeremiah what he sees. And Jeremiah responds 00:21:39.549 --> 00:21:43.150 that he sees a rod or a branch of an almond tree, 00:21:43.250 --> 00:21:47.490 shakad. And God replies, you have seen well, 00:21:47.650 --> 00:21:53.589 for I am, did he say I'm an almond? No. He said, 00:21:53.690 --> 00:22:00.569 I am watching, watching, shakad, over my word. 00:22:02.060 --> 00:22:05.559 Jeremiah sees an almond tree. God says, you're 00:22:05.559 --> 00:22:09.779 right. I am watching. So that almond tree, it 00:22:09.779 --> 00:22:13.220 blooms the earliest of all the trees every year. 00:22:13.539 --> 00:22:15.980 And it was a natural symbol of watchfulness, 00:22:16.059 --> 00:22:19.059 paying attention, being alert before anything 00:22:19.059 --> 00:22:24.059 else stirs. So even in this small detail, the 00:22:24.059 --> 00:22:26.880 almond tree blossoming, the whitening hair of 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:30.420 old age, it's a quiet invitation. to watchfulness. 00:22:31.539 --> 00:22:34.460 As the body grows old and the hair turns white 00:22:34.460 --> 00:22:38.039 like almond blossoms, we are called to stay awake, 00:22:38.299 --> 00:22:43.059 spiritually alert, watching for what God is doing 00:22:43.059 --> 00:22:46.579 according to his word rather than drifting into 00:22:46.579 --> 00:22:50.380 passive resignation. If I were to give this sermon 00:22:50.380 --> 00:22:54.440 a subtitle, it would be this, Aging Bodies, Watchful 00:22:54.440 --> 00:23:01.250 Hearts. We continue in verse 5. The grasshopper 00:23:01.250 --> 00:23:06.210 drags himself along. What a picture there. You've 00:23:06.210 --> 00:23:10.769 seen a grasshopper. Do they drag? They jump, 00:23:10.789 --> 00:23:13.750 and they jump high. My kids get scared when they 00:23:13.750 --> 00:23:18.470 jump on them. It's designed to leap, to be light 00:23:18.470 --> 00:23:21.690 and springy and energetic. And then Solomon says, 00:23:21.930 --> 00:23:27.680 this one, not anymore. They can't leap. It's 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:30.880 just dragging itself forward with great effort. 00:23:32.099 --> 00:23:34.799 That's what it feels like when the body that 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:38.980 once moved with ease now only moves with labor. 00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:43.319 What used to be effortless motion becomes slow, 00:23:43.480 --> 00:23:46.539 deliberate dragging from one place to the next. 00:23:48.460 --> 00:23:52.859 The caperberry is ineffective. In the ancient 00:23:52.859 --> 00:23:55.380 world, a caperberry was something of an appetite. 00:23:55.930 --> 00:23:59.849 stimulant, modifier associated with desire to 00:23:59.849 --> 00:24:04.130 help things taste better. Solomon says even that 00:24:04.130 --> 00:24:07.910 has stopped working. Even the appetites, the 00:24:07.910 --> 00:24:11.710 desires that once drove us, they grow dull and 00:24:11.710 --> 00:24:16.289 unresponsive. Finally now, Solomon says the quiet 00:24:16.289 --> 00:24:19.410 part out loud. The thing all of this imagery 00:24:19.410 --> 00:24:23.190 has been building toward. For man goes to his 00:24:23.190 --> 00:24:27.500 eternal home. but mourners go about in the street. 00:24:28.660 --> 00:24:31.900 All of this decline, trembling hands, dimming 00:24:31.900 --> 00:24:36.980 eyes, fearful steps, dragging grasshoppers, appetites 00:24:36.980 --> 00:24:40.400 gone flat, all of it is heading somewhere toward 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:48.279 what Solomon calls the eternal home. Death. The 00:24:48.279 --> 00:24:51.059 mourners walking the streets, the funeral procession, 00:24:51.079 --> 00:24:54.000 the grief that follows. every human life eventually. 00:24:54.980 --> 00:24:57.039 I want to pause here and say something important. 00:24:57.579 --> 00:25:01.279 Solomon isn't being morbid for morbidity's sake. 00:25:02.019 --> 00:25:06.640 He's being loving. He's refusing to let us live 00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:10.420 in denial about where the road leads, precisely 00:25:10.420 --> 00:25:13.180 so that we'll take seriously the command that's 00:25:13.180 --> 00:25:17.039 back in verse 1 to remember your creator. Not 00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:19.279 remember him someday, once you've figured out 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:23.940 death is real. Remember him now. Well, you can 00:25:23.940 --> 00:25:27.140 still feel the fear of a high place. Well, you 00:25:27.140 --> 00:25:29.339 know exactly why you feel it, because your body 00:25:29.339 --> 00:25:33.420 is proof that you're not permanent, that you're 00:25:33.420 --> 00:25:39.000 heading toward that eternal home. The only question 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:42.799 that matters is whether you'll arrive there having 00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:47.900 already remembered, already trusted, already 00:25:47.900 --> 00:25:54.410 settled your life on the one who made you. Solomon 00:25:54.410 --> 00:25:57.430 now brings us to the moment of death itself, 00:25:57.569 --> 00:26:00.009 and he does it with two of the most beautiful 00:26:00.009 --> 00:26:03.029 and haunting images in the entire book, verses 00:26:03.029 --> 00:26:09.029 6 and 7. Now here, some of your versions may 00:26:09.029 --> 00:26:13.789 say, remember, before verse 6. It might be italicized, 00:26:13.789 --> 00:26:17.150 because in the Hebrew, it's not repeated. but 00:26:17.150 --> 00:26:20.210 the translators often add it to make sense of 00:26:20.210 --> 00:26:23.769 the consistency because it is one long sentence 00:26:23.769 --> 00:26:27.069 and it draws us back to that single imperative. 00:26:27.910 --> 00:26:30.490 It points us back to the creator and so we hold 00:26:30.490 --> 00:26:33.829 the whole thing together. Let me read it here. 00:26:34.029 --> 00:26:36.869 Remember him before the silver cord is snapped 00:26:36.869 --> 00:26:39.789 and the golden bowl is crushed. The pitcher by 00:26:39.789 --> 00:26:41.930 the spring is broken and the wheel of the cistern 00:26:41.930 --> 00:26:44.869 is crushed. Then the dust will return to the 00:26:44.869 --> 00:26:47.960 earth as it was in the spirit. will return to 00:26:47.960 --> 00:26:51.960 God who gave it. I want you to picture with me 00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:56.140 an old -fashioned oil lamp. And it's going to 00:26:56.140 --> 00:26:59.180 be hanging. So you have a lamp, and it has a 00:26:59.180 --> 00:27:03.900 cord that draws up to the ceiling. Silver cord, 00:27:04.099 --> 00:27:07.839 gold lamp. Maybe the kind of ornate fixture you 00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:11.180 find in a wealthy Victorian home. More likely 00:27:11.180 --> 00:27:14.880 in Solomon's day, a wealthy home. Now if that's 00:27:14.880 --> 00:27:17.839 hard for you, maybe picture a chandelier. Picture 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:21.319 a chandelier with a silver cord hanging in a 00:27:21.319 --> 00:27:24.500 great hall. Now the golden bowl, it's going to 00:27:24.500 --> 00:27:27.420 hold the oil that is lit and that silver cord 00:27:27.420 --> 00:27:31.960 suspends the whole fixture from above. As long 00:27:31.960 --> 00:27:35.019 as that cord is holding, the lamp is going to 00:27:35.019 --> 00:27:38.180 burn bright and everyone is going to be experiencing 00:27:38.180 --> 00:27:42.059 a room filled with light. But if that cord breaks, 00:27:42.730 --> 00:27:46.769 If it snaps, even just one small fray gives way, 00:27:46.930 --> 00:27:50.430 that golden bowl is going to come crashing to 00:27:50.430 --> 00:27:54.750 the floor. The oil is going to spill, and instantly 00:27:54.750 --> 00:27:59.309 the light that filled the room goes dark. Now, 00:27:59.309 --> 00:28:01.529 if oil lamps and chandeliers feel like a world 00:28:01.529 --> 00:28:03.829 away from your own experience, I have another 00:28:03.829 --> 00:28:10.170 analogy for you. A hospital monitor, beeping 00:28:10.170 --> 00:28:15.359 steadily hour after hour, Day after day, a rhythm 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:18.059 so constant the family in the room almost stops 00:28:18.059 --> 00:28:24.099 hearing it. And then, without warning, that steady 00:28:24.099 --> 00:28:30.940 beep flattens into one long tone. You can picture 00:28:30.940 --> 00:28:33.920 an old rope bridge. It's been fraying strand 00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:38.000 by strand for years, but safe to cross a thousand 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:43.250 times. Until one day... That last fiber gives 00:28:43.250 --> 00:28:46.730 way, and the whole thing drops in an instant. 00:28:48.069 --> 00:28:51.650 That's the shape of Solomon's image here. Something 00:28:51.650 --> 00:28:55.589 structurally sound, something valuable, useful, 00:28:56.029 --> 00:29:00.109 precious, holding steady for a lifetime, and 00:29:00.109 --> 00:29:05.529 then in an instant, in a moment, gone. That is 00:29:05.529 --> 00:29:08.910 Solomon's picture of death. It's not a gradual 00:29:08.910 --> 00:29:14.529 dimming this time. It's a sudden severing. All 00:29:14.529 --> 00:29:16.690 of that slow decline that we just walked through 00:29:16.690 --> 00:29:19.470 in verses three through five, the trembling hands, 00:29:19.730 --> 00:29:23.230 the dimming eyes, the dragging grasshopper, all 00:29:23.230 --> 00:29:25.430 of that decline happens gradually over years, 00:29:25.549 --> 00:29:29.750 over decades even. But death itself, when it 00:29:29.750 --> 00:29:35.730 finally comes, it comes suddenly. The cord snaps. 00:29:36.609 --> 00:29:42.210 The bowl crashes. The light that filled a life 00:29:42.210 --> 00:29:45.470 goes dark in an instant and everyone in the room 00:29:45.470 --> 00:29:48.109 feels the sudden absence of what used to shine 00:29:48.109 --> 00:29:53.049 there. Solomon layers on a second image here. 00:29:55.529 --> 00:29:59.529 The pitcher by the spring is broken and the wheel 00:29:59.529 --> 00:30:03.009 at the cistern crushed. I want you to picture 00:30:03.009 --> 00:30:06.569 a well, the ones that you maybe saw in the kids' 00:30:06.670 --> 00:30:11.059 coloring books, a stone one, with a rope and 00:30:11.059 --> 00:30:14.640 a pulley. In the ancient world, the women would 00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:16.839 come daily to draw water. We know the story of 00:30:16.839 --> 00:30:19.619 Jesus and the woman at the well. That pitcher 00:30:19.619 --> 00:30:23.440 is lowered by a rope, is it not? Then to get 00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:26.500 it back up, if they had a wheel, they'd crank 00:30:26.500 --> 00:30:29.779 the wheel to bring the rope back up, full of 00:30:29.779 --> 00:30:33.660 water for the household. This was the daily rhythm 00:30:33.660 --> 00:30:36.460 of sustaining life itself, and in some parts 00:30:36.460 --> 00:30:40.170 of the world still is. They don't get it out 00:30:40.170 --> 00:30:45.769 of the tap. Water is life. And such a mechanism 00:30:45.769 --> 00:30:49.890 brings it up from the depths day after day after 00:30:49.890 --> 00:30:55.809 day. As Solomon says, in death, the pitcher shatters. 00:30:56.349 --> 00:31:00.890 The wheel breaks. The mechanism that sustained 00:31:00.890 --> 00:31:04.349 life stops working. No more water comes up from 00:31:04.349 --> 00:31:07.980 that well. The rhythm that kept a household alive, 00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:11.880 it just simply ceases. These metaphors of death, 00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:14.119 they picture the same reality from different 00:31:14.119 --> 00:31:17.119 angles. Something that used to function, used 00:31:17.119 --> 00:31:20.799 to sustain, used to give light or water or life, 00:31:20.859 --> 00:31:28.099 it suddenly stops. That's death. Sudden. Final. 00:31:29.220 --> 00:31:32.259 The mechanism of this body simply ceases to work. 00:31:32.700 --> 00:31:35.119 And then Solomon gives us in verse 7 one of the 00:31:35.119 --> 00:31:37.160 most theologically loaded sentences in the entire 00:31:37.160 --> 00:31:41.299 book. Then the dust will return to the earth 00:31:41.299 --> 00:31:45.140 as it was and the spirit will return to God who 00:31:45.140 --> 00:31:49.880 gave it. Do you hear the echo there? The dust 00:31:49.880 --> 00:31:53.680 will return to the earth as it was. Do you remember 00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:57.779 our call to worship? Genesis chapter 2, verse 00:31:57.779 --> 00:32:01.329 7. Then the Lord God formed man of the dust from 00:32:01.329 --> 00:32:04.650 the ground and breathed into his nostrils the 00:32:04.650 --> 00:32:06.829 breath of life, and so the man became a living 00:32:06.829 --> 00:32:12.690 being. We were formed from dust, and to dust 00:32:12.690 --> 00:32:16.470 we return. Genesis 3 .19 says almost the exact 00:32:16.470 --> 00:32:20.250 same thing to Adam after the fall. Solomon, he's 00:32:20.250 --> 00:32:23.390 not inventing a new theology here. He's simply 00:32:23.390 --> 00:32:25.430 reminding us of the oldest truth in Scripture 00:32:25.430 --> 00:32:29.670 about human nature. and human mortality. The 00:32:29.670 --> 00:32:31.549 second half of the verse, I don't want us to 00:32:31.549 --> 00:32:34.809 rush past it, says this, the spirit will return 00:32:34.809 --> 00:32:39.029 to God who gave it. We've talked about this word 00:32:39.029 --> 00:32:41.569 before for spirit in Ecclesiastes, that Hebrew 00:32:41.569 --> 00:32:44.549 word ruach. Again, don't correct my pronunciation. 00:32:46.170 --> 00:32:50.710 Spirit, breath, the same idea of the breath that 00:32:50.710 --> 00:32:53.029 God breathed into Adam's nostrils in Genesis 00:32:53.029 --> 00:32:56.440 2 -7. to make him a living being is the very 00:32:56.440 --> 00:33:02.460 thing that returns to God when we die. Dust and 00:33:02.460 --> 00:33:08.680 spirit. Material and immaterial. Physical and 00:33:08.680 --> 00:33:15.160 spiritual. Two parts, one whole. Our bodies came 00:33:15.160 --> 00:33:18.480 from dust and returned to dust, but our spirit, 00:33:18.660 --> 00:33:21.519 the breath, the life, the very thing that makes 00:33:21.519 --> 00:33:24.329 us more than dust, comes from God and returns 00:33:24.329 --> 00:33:28.950 to God. This is not annihilation. This is not 00:33:28.950 --> 00:33:32.109 the end of the story. The spirit returns to the 00:33:32.109 --> 00:33:35.250 one who breathed it into existence in the first 00:33:35.250 --> 00:33:38.329 place. And that ought to change entirely how 00:33:38.329 --> 00:33:41.230 we hear this whole passage. Solomon has walked 00:33:41.230 --> 00:33:43.930 us through eight verses of unflinching decline 00:33:43.930 --> 00:33:47.250 and death. Trembling hands, dimming eyes, snapping 00:33:47.250 --> 00:33:50.230 cords, shattering pictures. And then right at 00:33:50.230 --> 00:33:52.390 the hinge point of this whole passage, he tells 00:33:52.390 --> 00:33:56.789 us where the spirit goes. Back to God who gave 00:33:56.789 --> 00:34:02.369 it. I want to pause here and point to a New Testament 00:34:02.369 --> 00:34:04.809 passage that I think functions almost like a 00:34:04.809 --> 00:34:07.890 commentary on this verse. Written by a man who 00:34:07.890 --> 00:34:10.829 had read Ecclesiastes his whole life and then 00:34:10.829 --> 00:34:14.619 met the risen Christ. If you want, you can turn 00:34:14.619 --> 00:34:17.880 to 2 Corinthians 4. I'll also have it on the 00:34:17.880 --> 00:34:21.300 screen for you to follow along. 2 Corinthians 00:34:21.300 --> 00:34:29.920 4, verses 16 through 18. Therefore, we do not 00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:33.460 lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, 00:34:33.460 --> 00:34:35.619 yet our inner man is being renewed day by day 00:34:35.619 --> 00:34:40.110 for our momentary light affliction. is working 00:34:40.110 --> 00:34:43.530 out for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond 00:34:43.530 --> 00:34:47.010 all comparison. While we look not at the things 00:34:47.010 --> 00:34:50.030 which are seen, but at the things which are not 00:34:50.030 --> 00:34:53.170 seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, 00:34:53.449 --> 00:34:56.929 but the things which are not seen are eternal. 00:34:59.010 --> 00:35:02.630 Do you hear how directly Paul is describing the 00:35:02.630 --> 00:35:06.769 same body Solomon just cataloged for us? The 00:35:06.769 --> 00:35:09.530 trembling hands. the dimming eyes, the failing 00:35:09.530 --> 00:35:13.250 strength. Paul uses the language of decay to 00:35:13.250 --> 00:35:15.789 describe that. He's not contradicting Solomon. 00:35:16.630 --> 00:35:19.849 He's standing exactly where Solomon stood, looking 00:35:19.849 --> 00:35:23.809 at the same outer man wasting away. But Paul 00:35:23.809 --> 00:35:26.530 can say something Solomon didn't have the vocabulary 00:35:26.530 --> 00:35:31.210 yet to say. Solomon tells us honestly, without 00:35:31.210 --> 00:35:34.190 embellishment, that the spirit returns to God 00:35:34.190 --> 00:35:38.010 who gave it. Paul, writing on this side of the 00:35:38.010 --> 00:35:40.909 resurrection, tells us why that return is not 00:35:40.909 --> 00:35:45.750 merely a going home, but it's going toward an 00:35:45.750 --> 00:35:51.269 eternal weight of glory. There's an ache that 00:35:51.269 --> 00:35:55.449 Solomon seems to leave unresolved, a spirit departing 00:35:55.449 --> 00:35:58.230 and dust returning. And the passage ends with 00:35:58.230 --> 00:36:00.250 that vanity of vanities phrase, almost like a 00:36:00.250 --> 00:36:04.010 sigh. Paul comes in to fill that with resurrection 00:36:04.010 --> 00:36:08.639 hope. It doesn't erase Solomon's honesty about 00:36:08.639 --> 00:36:12.139 decay. He simply shows us what lies on the other 00:36:12.139 --> 00:36:17.019 side for a specific group of people, for those 00:36:17.019 --> 00:36:24.360 whose hope is in Christ. So we hold both texts 00:36:24.360 --> 00:36:28.039 together. Solomon gives us an unflinching diagnosis 00:36:28.039 --> 00:36:31.099 in the earliest hope. The Spirit returns to God, 00:36:31.219 --> 00:36:35.829 not annihilation. Paul gives us a fuller answer 00:36:35.829 --> 00:36:39.150 and clarity. That return for those in Christ 00:36:39.150 --> 00:36:43.710 is actually glory being prepared even now in 00:36:43.710 --> 00:36:48.210 the very midst of that decay. So it means the 00:36:48.210 --> 00:36:50.849 entire question of the passage, the weight of 00:36:50.849 --> 00:36:53.150 that remember your creator comes down to this. 00:36:54.429 --> 00:36:58.150 This is what you need to be mindful of every 00:36:58.150 --> 00:37:02.630 single day. Will you know the God to whom your 00:37:02.630 --> 00:37:08.340 spirit Will that meeting one day be a reunion 00:37:08.340 --> 00:37:11.400 with the one that you've already remembered, 00:37:11.599 --> 00:37:14.099 you've already trusted, already walked with through 00:37:14.099 --> 00:37:16.260 those trembling and dimming and dragging years? 00:37:17.739 --> 00:37:21.599 Because I pray it will not be the first time 00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:26.360 that you've ever truly reckoned with him. Solomon 00:37:26.360 --> 00:37:28.860 is going to close this section with his popular 00:37:28.860 --> 00:37:34.159 phrase that confuses everyone. Vanity of vanities, 00:37:34.300 --> 00:37:39.639 says the preacher. All is vanity. LSB uses Habel 00:37:39.639 --> 00:37:42.340 as vanity. Some of you have different versions, 00:37:42.420 --> 00:37:44.559 but I want you to feel the weight underneath 00:37:44.559 --> 00:37:48.019 that word. It's a more vivid picture. Habel is 00:37:48.019 --> 00:37:51.460 that vapor, that breath, that mist, that wind, 00:37:51.559 --> 00:37:55.260 that soap bubbles. It's the fog that rolls off 00:37:55.260 --> 00:37:58.019 your coffee cup on a cold morning and disappears 00:37:58.019 --> 00:38:02.300 the moment you try to grab it. I know cold mornings 00:38:02.300 --> 00:38:07.960 are a bit of ways away for us. When Solomon says 00:38:07.960 --> 00:38:11.320 vanity of vanities, he's not making a moral judgment 00:38:11.320 --> 00:38:15.239 that life is meaningless. And he's not talking 00:38:15.239 --> 00:38:19.739 about pride. He's describing something fleeting, 00:38:19.840 --> 00:38:24.119 something fragile. Here one moment and gone the 00:38:24.119 --> 00:38:27.639 next. Vanity in the sense of vapor, not vanity 00:38:27.639 --> 00:38:32.159 in the sense of pride. Habel is fleeting. It's 00:38:32.159 --> 00:38:35.360 fragile. Here one moment and gone the next. That 00:38:35.360 --> 00:38:41.019 is not the same as meaningless. A vapor is real 00:38:41.019 --> 00:38:46.159 while it lasts. It's just brief. And I think 00:38:46.159 --> 00:38:49.239 that is exactly Solomon's point after walking 00:38:49.239 --> 00:38:52.159 us through this portrait of aging and death. 00:38:52.559 --> 00:38:58.880 Your life is vanity. Habel, a vapor. But it's 00:38:58.880 --> 00:39:03.880 real. It matters. It's just breathtakingly short. 00:39:05.699 --> 00:39:09.179 The trembling hands, the dimming eyes, the snapping 00:39:09.179 --> 00:39:12.300 cord, all of it is proof that your days are numbered. 00:39:13.880 --> 00:39:18.039 You are right now in the process of becoming 00:39:18.039 --> 00:39:23.679 a vapor. So what do you do with a life that is 00:39:23.679 --> 00:39:28.969 vanity? With a life that is vapor? Well, you 00:39:28.969 --> 00:39:33.130 don't waste it chasing more vanity. You don't 00:39:33.130 --> 00:39:36.610 waste it chasing more pleasure and more wealth 00:39:36.610 --> 00:39:39.429 and more achievement. All the things that Solomon 00:39:39.429 --> 00:39:41.550 tested and found equally fleeting in the earlier 00:39:41.550 --> 00:39:47.909 chapters. You anchor that vapor life to the one 00:39:47.909 --> 00:39:54.909 thing that is not vanity. Your creator. This 00:39:54.909 --> 00:39:57.460 is where I want to bring us back. to that first 00:39:57.460 --> 00:40:01.980 word, the command from verse one, zakar, remember 00:40:01.980 --> 00:40:06.320 your creator. Because remembering him is not 00:40:06.320 --> 00:40:09.860 a one -time transaction. It's not a box that 00:40:09.860 --> 00:40:12.219 you check off once in your youth and then you 00:40:12.219 --> 00:40:16.000 move on from as you age. It's a covenantal remembering, 00:40:16.360 --> 00:40:18.820 the kind of remembering that shapes how you live 00:40:18.820 --> 00:40:21.579 every single day that you have left, however 00:40:21.579 --> 00:40:25.599 many or few those days turn out to be. And here's 00:40:25.599 --> 00:40:27.739 something beautiful I want you to carry with 00:40:27.739 --> 00:40:31.480 you. That same word, zakar, it's not only describing 00:40:31.480 --> 00:40:34.539 what we are to do to remember God, it describes 00:40:34.539 --> 00:40:40.440 what God does toward us. If you want, you can 00:40:40.440 --> 00:40:42.900 turn in Genesis chapter 8, one quick verse, or 00:40:42.900 --> 00:40:48.159 you can just hear it. It's after the flood. It's 00:40:48.159 --> 00:40:50.460 covered the earth. Judgment's fallen. No one 00:40:50.460 --> 00:40:52.199 in his family, they've been shut up in that ark 00:40:52.199 --> 00:40:55.230 for months. On end, surrounded by water, no sign 00:40:55.230 --> 00:40:57.909 of when or if it would ever end. In Genesis chapter 00:40:57.909 --> 00:41:03.630 8, verse 1 says something very simply. Then God 00:41:03.630 --> 00:41:10.130 remembered Noah. Remember, zakar, the same word. 00:41:10.869 --> 00:41:14.730 God's remembering wasn't a passive mental note. 00:41:15.730 --> 00:41:20.309 It moved him to act, to send the wind, to dry 00:41:20.309 --> 00:41:23.750 up the waters. to bring Noah out onto dry ground 00:41:23.750 --> 00:41:27.550 into a renewed world. God's remembering restored 00:41:27.550 --> 00:41:32.110 and God's remembering rescued. So think about 00:41:32.110 --> 00:41:35.190 what that means for us today. Looking at Solomon's 00:41:35.190 --> 00:41:37.510 unflinching portrait of trembling hands and dimming 00:41:37.510 --> 00:41:40.449 eyes and snap cords, we're commanded to remember 00:41:40.449 --> 00:41:43.969 our creator. But our remembering is possible 00:41:43.969 --> 00:41:48.010 and is sustained because his remembering came 00:41:48.010 --> 00:41:53.340 first and it never fails. Just as God remembered 00:41:53.340 --> 00:41:55.519 Noah in the middle of the flood and brought him 00:41:55.519 --> 00:41:58.139 into new life, God remembers his people even 00:41:58.139 --> 00:42:02.760 when their bodies fail. Even as the vapor of 00:42:02.760 --> 00:42:06.420 our days evaporates before our eyes, he remembers 00:42:06.420 --> 00:42:11.679 us. So our call to remember him, it's a response. 00:42:12.519 --> 00:42:16.039 It's a response and a resting in his remembering 00:42:16.039 --> 00:42:19.019 of us. A remembering that never breaks like a 00:42:19.019 --> 00:42:23.599 cord, never crashes like a bowl. It endures forever. 00:42:24.880 --> 00:42:26.760 So here's where I want to land this morning. 00:42:27.599 --> 00:42:31.179 Solomon has given us this hard passage. I keep 00:42:31.179 --> 00:42:33.139 listing these items because the next time you 00:42:33.139 --> 00:42:34.679 ever read this, I don't want you to be confused 00:42:34.679 --> 00:42:39.820 about the imagery. Trembling hands, lost teeth, 00:42:40.320 --> 00:42:46.360 dimming eyes, fearful steps, dragging grasshoppers, 00:42:46.579 --> 00:42:53.039 snapped cords, and shattered pitchers. He has 00:42:53.039 --> 00:42:56.840 not softened a single image. He wants you to 00:42:56.840 --> 00:42:59.460 feel exactly what is coming for this body of 00:42:59.460 --> 00:43:02.239 yours, no matter how strong or young it feels 00:43:02.239 --> 00:43:06.420 today. But he's also given us the encouragement 00:43:06.420 --> 00:43:10.679 and the solution. Remember your creator. Remember 00:43:10.679 --> 00:43:14.260 him. And that command is not a burden meant to 00:43:14.260 --> 00:43:17.679 add anxiety to this sobering picture. Friends, 00:43:17.679 --> 00:43:21.820 it's an invitation. It's an invitation to anchor 00:43:21.820 --> 00:43:25.900 your brief, vapor -like life to the God whose 00:43:25.900 --> 00:43:31.300 covenant faithfulness never evaporates, to the 00:43:31.300 --> 00:43:34.320 God who remembered Noah in the flood, to the 00:43:34.320 --> 00:43:39.539 God who breathed Ruach into Adam's dust and promises 00:43:39.539 --> 00:43:43.380 that that same spirit will return to him safe 00:43:43.380 --> 00:43:48.320 at the end of a faithful life. So here's my charge. 00:43:48.989 --> 00:43:51.429 Practically, concretely, to remember your creator 00:43:51.429 --> 00:43:54.849 now, not when your hands start trembling, not 00:43:54.849 --> 00:43:56.710 when your eyesight starts to dim, not when the 00:43:56.710 --> 00:43:58.550 doctor gives you news you didn't want to hear. 00:43:59.110 --> 00:44:02.090 Now, today, this week, while you still have strength 00:44:02.090 --> 00:44:04.389 and clarity to build the habit. So what does 00:44:04.389 --> 00:44:07.929 that look like? Start your mornings before anything 00:44:07.929 --> 00:44:10.650 else pulls at your attention with a deliberate 00:44:10.650 --> 00:44:16.190 act of zakar, remembering. Open the word. Remind 00:44:16.190 --> 00:44:20.039 yourself who God is to you. actively remember 00:44:20.039 --> 00:44:23.159 his covenant faithfulness before the noise of 00:44:23.159 --> 00:44:26.480 your day begins. And then you carry that remembering 00:44:26.480 --> 00:44:29.619 with you as a posture, not as a morning ritual. 00:44:30.940 --> 00:44:33.440 It's throughout the ordinary moments of life. 00:44:33.820 --> 00:44:36.920 You actively return your mind, your thinking 00:44:36.920 --> 00:44:42.199 to him. In your car, at your desk, folding laundry, 00:44:42.440 --> 00:44:48.099 changing diapers, doing homework. sitting at 00:44:48.099 --> 00:44:51.900 the dinner table. Let remembering become the 00:44:51.900 --> 00:44:54.539 rhythm underneath every other rhythm of your 00:44:54.539 --> 00:44:58.719 life so that by the time your own silver cord 00:44:58.719 --> 00:45:03.739 phrase, and it will for every single one of us, 00:45:03.940 --> 00:45:07.360 that you will not be scrambling to remember him 00:45:07.360 --> 00:45:12.380 for the first time. This is a prayer for those 00:45:12.380 --> 00:45:15.360 who trust in the Lord that when the cord snaps, 00:45:16.190 --> 00:45:18.329 We'll simply be going home to the one we've been 00:45:18.329 --> 00:45:23.289 walking with all along. And next time, in a few 00:45:23.289 --> 00:45:25.650 weeks, we're going to finish this book together. 00:45:26.690 --> 00:45:29.949 Ecclesiastes 12, verses 9 through 14. And Solomon's 00:45:29.949 --> 00:45:32.869 going to step back and give us a verdict on everything 00:45:32.869 --> 00:45:35.909 that he's taught throughout this book. It's a 00:45:35.909 --> 00:45:37.349 fitting conclusion. I don't want you to miss 00:45:37.349 --> 00:45:40.730 it. But for now, I want you to carry this with 00:45:40.730 --> 00:45:47.320 us. Our lives are vanity, vapor. A mist, brief 00:45:47.320 --> 00:45:54.619 and fleeting, real but passing. But our creator's 00:45:54.619 --> 00:46:00.320 faithfulness, it's not vanity. It endures. He 00:46:00.320 --> 00:46:04.179 remembered Noah. He breathed into Adam. He can 00:46:04.179 --> 00:46:09.000 remember you. Friends, let's posture our hearts 00:46:09.000 --> 00:46:13.579 in prayer. Father, you know us better than we 00:46:13.579 --> 00:46:17.420 know ourselves. You know these bodies of ours 00:46:17.420 --> 00:46:21.699 formed from dust, breathed to life by your own 00:46:21.699 --> 00:46:26.559 hand. And we know that we're heading one day 00:46:26.559 --> 00:46:33.699 back to dust again. We thank you that even as 00:46:33.699 --> 00:46:39.119 our hands may tremble, even when our eyes will 00:46:39.119 --> 00:46:47.030 surely dim, you do not change. You do not forget. 00:46:48.969 --> 00:46:52.050 As we sang earlier, your faithfulness surely 00:46:52.050 --> 00:47:00.510 stands and endures forever. So we ask, teach 00:47:00.510 --> 00:47:08.929 us, Lord. Teach us to remember you now. Not as 00:47:08.929 --> 00:47:16.090 a duty that we grudgingly perform. But help us 00:47:16.090 --> 00:47:20.110 to remember you as the very anchor of our lives, 00:47:20.230 --> 00:47:25.710 the one solid thing we can do in a world full 00:47:25.710 --> 00:47:31.590 of vanity. And just as you remembered Noah and 00:47:31.590 --> 00:47:33.710 brought him through the flood into new life, 00:47:33.909 --> 00:47:40.989 remember us. Hold us fast. In youth and in age, 00:47:41.130 --> 00:47:45.989 remind us. that our very breath of life comes 00:47:45.989 --> 00:47:53.409 from you and one day will return. Help us to 00:47:53.409 --> 00:47:58.849 prepare for that day, unashamed, unflinching, 00:47:58.869 --> 00:48:03.690 because of your faithfulness. We pray this in 00:48:03.690 --> 00:48:04.050 your name.